Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Penang mulls law to bar political party hoppers

Penang mulls law to bar political party hoppers

By Ida Lim

August 21, 2012

Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said
today the state is looking at passing an anti-hopping law in November,
ahead of the 13th general election that must be called by next April.

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, said that he will get the
party to “determine whether the state government... can pass an
anti-hopping law at the next Penang state assembly.”

His statement comes just a day after DAP chairman Karpal Singh was
reported saying that the party “will not tolerate party hopping.”Lim (picture) said
the proposed anti-hopping law would ensure “integrity in politics by
preventing wakil rakyat (people’s representatives) from being bought
and... not respecting and being in contempt of the mandate being given
by the people...”

“Of course it (anti-hopping law) has been declared unconstitutional
by the Federal Court but I think we should revisit the law because I
think that case was wrongly decided. A view that was shared by some
ministers,” he said.

Lim was likely referring to a 1992 decision by the highest court in
Malaysia where the judges ruled that an anti-hopping law would go
against the freedom of association in the Federal Constitution.

“But let us see whether we can again put out a test case by passing
this law at the next state assembly and if it is challenged, we hope the
courts of the land can revisit to prevent tadpoles and frogs from being
bred recklessly in Malaysia,” he told a news conference in George Town
today.

An audio recording of the news conference was made available to The Malaysian Insider.

Malaysia has seen countless politicians from both sides of the political divide switching parties after winning seats.

In Election 2008, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition lost its
customary two-thirds parliamentary majority largely due to significant
losses in the peninsula, where it won just 85 seats while the opposition
swept 80 seats.

It also lost four states — Perak, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan — to the federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

But the defection of four Perak state assemblymen caused the state to fall back into BN’s grasp in 2009.
The east Malaysian state of Sabah had in recent weeks seen three
senior BN lawmakers, including two MPs, quitting the coalition and
pledging their support for PR.

After the recent Sabah defections, BN now holds 53 parliamentary seats in east Malaysia, while the opposition’s score is five.

The upcoming general election is expected to be the most intense battle between BN and PR.